Planning on taking a vacation but don’t have the time to invest in learning the local language? Almost as essential as a passport and perfect for jetsetting, business trips, and family vacations, the Franklin 12-Language Speaking Global Translator is a convenient, hand-held device that will help you bridge the language gap wherever you go. Containing more than 450,000 words and 12,000 phrases, this translator is ideal for communicating on almost any continent with 12 languages: Chinese (Mandarin), Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

Enter a word in your native language and watch as the device quickly looks up, speaks, and displays the translation in the target language. In a rush? The predictive spelling feature will help you with any misspelled words, and visibility is not a problem with the seven-line screen. Included with this lightweight device are ear buds and an AC adapter, five fun games, a voice recorder feature to practice your pronunciation, and an MP3 player to download and play MP3 files; enjoy music and more while looking up words and phrases. Franklin Electronic Publishers, 12-Language Speaking Global Translator, $199.99.